TGI-freaking-F

Amirite?

This was just a strange week overall... I have experienced the gamut of emotions from ecstatic, to angry, to sad. Nothing really monumental happened.. just little things here and there. Work is frustrating, the ambiguity of my duration here is exhausting me and whereas I was once really optimistic about getting to stay here.. that optimism is currently on life support. It's defeating. It also feels like an eternity since I took the bar exam and that I still have an eternity to wait for results. I'm feeling a bit funk-y if you will. Not the good kind, either.

So what does one do after a defeating day at work? Shop. I decided for the first time in my, well, life.. since I'm NOT going back to school this fall, I'd treat myself to some "back to school" shopping. Logical, right? K-12 "back to school" shopping for me consisted of new supplies, new knee highs, and MAYBE a new pair of black or brown leather shoes. Hi, Catholic School girl born and bred.

I never really "splurged" in college either, since I was broke as a joke. But recently I've decided I'm tired of feeling frumpy in my clothes and want to make more of a concerted effort to dress cuter more often. I need to buy clothes more sporadically instead of buying 5 things, wearing them to death, so then they look as tired and frumpy as the rest of my clothes. I also have decided to stop talking myself out of trendier pieces of clothing because "Oh, I can't pull it off. That's just not me. I better play it safe." SO in that spirit- I bought a blousy top that I may have previously passed over. See?!

Gratuitous work bathroom mirror shot.

Top: Love Culture (bought on Wednesday!)

Pants: Hollister (no shame, people)

Shoes:Guess, from DSW (early summer)

I have to remind myself that it can look cute, and I FEEL cuter when I buy "trendier" pieces. Also? Shopping after work when you feel grimey is not a good idea. I had to remind myself, "once you've bathed, and done your hair, this shirt will look cute." and ta-da! It did.

In addition, unecessary disheartening comments from others gave me a case of the sadz yesterday. SO I spur-of-the-moment (which really isn't that like me) invited my bridesmaid Molly over last night.. we whined, we dined, it was lovely, and what I needed.

M has been in chicago since yesterday pitching a presentation for work. He fancy. He'll be back early this evening. As a belated graduation gift, he planned a weekend of surprises. We were originally going to go out of town (think, wine country) and then were going to just get a hotel up north, and life got in the way and it turned into a staycation of sorts, which I'm totally okay with! Needless to say, apparently I have a full weekend but I have no idea what we're doing. Looking forward to spending some quality time with M, and I will report back to you kittens to let you know what we did!

Have a good weekend :)

-Kelly

KiKi La'Rue review: I am clearly not a fashion blogger

(Disclosure: I feel silly and a bit pompous doing this FTC disclosure, as if the frickin FTC cares at ALL whether I'm unduly influencing anyone.. but since I'm a few months shy of becoming an attorney, and my Bar Application is being gone over with a fine tooth comb, I have the legal-fear-of-god (yes, it's a thing) and therefore I am dutifully complying with the real disclosure: nobody paid me to say anything, I won a giveaway, was blown away by their customer service, and wanted to toot their horn. Mkay? Cool.)

SO, a while back, I won a giveaway on Raven's blog. (I'll wait while you stop over there, if you haven't already. She's hilar. --> does anyone else dislike these kind of abbreviations? I thought I'd try it on and I.just.can't. It feels awkward coming out of me... moving on.

Anyway I was sitting on my store credit for what felt like an eternity (probably was about a week) and I finally bit the bullet and got the Dancin' in the Moonlight dress in coral. Pretty, no? I've always wanted a one shoulder dress,... but with how small I am, it's a dangerous online buy. Sometimes it leaves a bit too much of my upper-boob area showing, and I look all sorts of unfortunate. I rolled the dice, because I loved the ruffles and the coral, but alas.. my freakishly small frame strikes again. It's a great dress! On a normal sized human. Anyway, I agonized over whether to sew some "bullets" in it (is that what they're called? to snug it up?) or doing something to make it work, because a) I felt bad after all the communication we'd had about GETTING the dress, and b) returning something is a lot of work.

I finally decided I'd give it a shot at returning it. YES it was free, but I may as well get something I like.

Silly me didn't pay any attention to the 14-day return policy. I emailed them and they SO graciously made an exception for moi, and worked with me to return the first dress, and get a second dress ordered. The shipping of both was on me, but hey, small price to pay for great customer service AND another "free" dress (using my shop credit/exchange). I ended up with a dress I like and that FITS wonderfully, and was not made to feel stupid or berated for missing the deadline! What more do you want in a clothing boutique? oh yes, for them to be in MN and not TX, but that's neither here nor there. ;-)

So I get home last night late after bar review and I see the hot pink envelope.. I rip into it, and try it on. I LOVE it. I had this great plan of waiting until M came home to take a "nice" photo of me.. you know, with my hair done..and preferably after I'd showered. Alas, I have no patience. (and I still haven't showered today... we have a wedding tonight so I wanted to do it closer to the time of the wedding so I look fresh)

Anyway, SO I started snapping away with my phone. Looked a little somethin' like this:

 Ah yes. Blurry. Oh and the only floor length mirror in the house is in the hall closet.. so, hey there broom in the corner!

 And then there was my attempt at showing you guys that my nails matched the coral stripes PERFECTLY.... just ignore my gnawed up fingers and ghetto chipped nails. My hygiene is apparently sub par while studying.

 And thennnnn I had the great idea to take an "artsy" photo in the mirror.. so you could see my cute little dresser and then me. Except, I look like I have no legs. Please, call me stumpy.

 Let's not forget the "instagram" style outfit shot. Fail. Gratuitous boob shot with awful lighting. BUT you can see the cool twisted roping detail at the neckline, that then turns into the straps!

 Another attempt at the full length mirror... this time my leg looks like it's disjointed and you can see not only the broom in the closet, but a roll of TP and some sunscreen. I'm so fancy, you guys.

aannnddd lastly, bringing it all back home, is TJ- keeping me humble. I think the photo says it all.

So, points to take from this post: 1) KiKi LaRue has FANTASTIC customer service, 2) adorable and affordable dresses! 3) I am NOT a fashion blogger 4) I got photobombed by my cat.

-Kelly